98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
HB1981

 

Introduced , by Rep. Tom Cross

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
105 ILCS 5/24-11  from Ch. 122, par. 24-11

    Amends the School Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning teacher tenure.


LRB098 06187 NHT 36228 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB1981LRB098 06187 NHT 36228 b

1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
524-11 as follows:
 
6    (105 ILCS 5/24-11)  (from Ch. 122, par. 24-11)
7    Sec. 24-11. Boards of Education - Boards of School
8Inspectors - Contractual continued service.
9    (a) As used in this and and the succeeding Sections of this
10Article:
11    "Teacher" means any or all school district employees
12regularly required to be certified under laws relating to the
13certification of teachers.
14    "Board" means board of directors, board of education, or
15board of school inspectors, as the case may be.
16    "School term" means that portion of the school year, July 1
17to the following June 30, when school is in actual session.
18    "Program" means a program of a special education joint
19agreement.
20    "Program of a special education joint agreement" means
21instructional, consultative, supervisory, administrative,
22diagnostic, and related services that are managed by a special
23educational joint agreement designed to service 2 or more

 

 

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1school districts that are members of the joint agreement.
2    "PERA implementation date" means the implementation date
3of an evaluation system for teachers as specified by Section
424A-2.5 of this Code for all schools within a school district
5or all programs of a special education joint agreement.
6    (b) This Section and Sections 24-12 through 24-16 of this
7Article apply only to school districts having less than 500,000
8inhabitants.
9    (c) Any teacher who is first employed as a full-time
10teacher in a school district or program prior to the PERA
11implementation date and who is employed in that district or
12program for a probationary period of 4 consecutive school terms
13shall enter upon contractual continued service in the district
14or in all of the programs that the teacher is legally qualified
15to hold, unless the teacher is given written notice of
16dismissal by certified mail, return receipt requested, by the
17employing board at least 45 days before the end of any school
18term within such period.
19    (d) For any teacher who is first employed as a full-time
20teacher in a school district or program on or after the PERA
21implementation date, the probationary period shall be one of
22the following periods, based upon the teacher's school terms of
23service and performance, before the teacher shall enter upon
24contractual continued service in the district or in all of the
25programs that the teacher is legally qualified to hold, unless
26the teacher is given written notice of dismissal by certified

 

 

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1mail, return receipt requested, by the employing board at least
245 days before the end of any school term within such period:
3        (1) 4 consecutive school terms of service in which the
4    teacher receives overall annual evaluation ratings of at
5    least "Proficient" in the last school term and at least
6    "Proficient" in either the second or third school term;
7        (2) 3 consecutive school terms of service in which the
8    teacher receives 3 overall annual evaluations of
9    "Excellent"; or
10        (3) 2 consecutive school terms of service in which the
11    teacher receives 2 overall annual evaluations of
12    "Excellent" service, but only if the teacher (i) previously
13    attained contractual continued service in a different
14    school district or program in this State, (ii) voluntarily
15    departed or was honorably dismissed from that school
16    district or program in the school term immediately prior to
17    the teacher's first school term of service applicable to
18    the attainment of contractual continued service under this
19    subdivision (3), and (iii) received, in his or her 2 most
20    recent overall annual or biannual evaluations from the
21    prior school district or program, ratings of "Proficient",
22    with both such ratings occurring after the school
23    district's or program's PERA implementation date.
24    If the teacher does not receive overall annual evaluations
25of "Excellent" in the school terms necessary for eligibility to
26achieve accelerated contractual continued service in

 

 

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1subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection (d), the teacher
2shall be eligible for contractual continued service pursuant to
3subdivision (1) of this subsection (d). If, at the conclusion
4of 4 consecutive school terms of service that count toward
5attainment of contractual continued service, the teacher's
6performance does not qualify the teacher for contractual
7continued service under subdivision (1) of this subsection (d),
8then the teacher shall not enter upon contractual continued
9service and shall be dismissed. If a performance evaluation is
10not conducted for any school term when such evaluation is
11required to be conducted under Section 24A-5 of this Code, then
12the teacher's performance evaluation rating for such school
13term for purposes of determining the attainment of contractual
14continued service shall be deemed "Proficient".
15    (e) For the purposes of determining contractual continued
16service, a school term shall be counted only toward attainment
17of contractual continued service if the teacher actually
18teaches or is otherwise present and participating in the
19district's or program's educational program for 120 days or
20more, provided that the days of leave under the federal Family
21Medical Leave Act that the teacher is required to take until
22the end of the school term shall be considered days of teaching
23or participation in the district's or program's educational
24program. A school term that is not counted toward attainment of
25contractual continued service shall not be considered a break
26in service for purposes of determining whether a teacher has

 

 

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1been employed for 4 consecutive school terms, provided that the
2teacher actually teaches or is otherwise present and
3participating in the district's or program's educational
4program in the following school term.
5    (f) If the employing board determines to dismiss the
6teacher in the last year of the probationary period as provided
7in subsection (c) of this Section or subdivision (1) or (2) of
8subsection (d) of this Section, but not subdivision (3) of
9subsection (d) of this Section, the written notice of dismissal
10provided by the employing board must contain specific reasons
11for dismissal. Any full-time teacher who does not receive
12written notice from the employing board at least 45 days before
13the end of any school term as provided in this Section and
14whose performance does not require dismissal after the fourth
15probationary year pursuant to subsection (d) of this Section
16shall be re-employed for the following school term.
17    (g) Contractual continued service shall continue in effect
18the terms and provisions of the contract with the teacher
19during the last school term of the probationary period, subject
20to this Act and the lawful regulations of the employing board.
21This Section and succeeding Sections do not modify any existing
22power of the board except with respect to the procedure of the
23discharge of a teacher and reductions in salary as hereinafter
24provided. Contractual continued service status shall not
25restrict the power of the board to transfer a teacher to a
26position which the teacher is qualified to fill or to make such

 

 

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1salary adjustments as it deems desirable, but unless reductions
2in salary are uniform or based upon some reasonable
3classification, any teacher whose salary is reduced shall be
4entitled to a notice and a hearing as hereinafter provided in
5the case of certain dismissals or removals.
6    (h) If, by reason of any change in the boundaries of school
7districts or by reason of the creation of a new school
8district, the position held by any teacher having a contractual
9continued service status is transferred from one board to the
10control of a new or different board, then the contractual
11continued service status of the teacher is not thereby lost,
12and such new or different board is subject to this Code with
13respect to the teacher in the same manner as if the teacher
14were its employee and had been its employee during the time the
15teacher was actually employed by the board from whose control
16the position was transferred.
17    (i) The employment of any teacher in a program of a special
18education joint agreement established under Section 3-15.14,
1910-22.31 or 10-22.31a shall be governed by this and succeeding
20Sections of this Article. For purposes of attaining and
21maintaining contractual continued service and computing length
22of continuing service as referred to in this Section and
23Section 24-12, employment in a special educational joint
24program shall be deemed a continuation of all previous
25certificated employment of such teacher for such joint
26agreement whether the employer of the teacher was the joint

 

 

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1agreement, the regional superintendent, or one of the
2participating districts in the joint agreement.
3    (j) For any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a
4full-time teacher in a program of a special education joint
5agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint
6agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint
7agreement, in the event of a reduction in the number of
8programs or positions in the joint agreement in which the
9notice of dismissal is provided on or before the end of the
102010-2011 school term, the teacher in contractual continued
11service is eligible for employment in the joint agreement
12programs for which the teacher is legally qualified in order of
13greater length of continuing service in the joint agreement,
14unless an alternative method of determining the sequence of
15dismissal is established in a collective bargaining agreement.
16For any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a full-time
17teacher in a program of a special education joint agreement,
18whether the program is operated by the joint agreement or a
19member district on behalf of the joint agreement, in the event
20of a reduction in the number of programs or positions in the
21joint agreement in which the notice of dismissal is provided
22during the 2011-2012 school term or a subsequent school term,
23the teacher shall be included on the honorable dismissal lists
24of all joint agreement programs for positions for which the
25teacher is qualified and is eligible for employment in such
26programs in accordance with subsections (b) and (c) of Section

 

 

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124-12 of this Code and the applicable honorable dismissal
2policies of the joint agreement.
3    (k) For any teacher employed after July 1, 1987 as a
4full-time teacher in a program of a special education joint
5agreement, whether the program is operated by the joint
6agreement or a member district on behalf of the joint
7agreement, in the event of the dissolution of a joint
8agreement, in which the notice to teachers of the dissolution
9is provided during the 2010-2011 school term, the teacher in
10contractual continued service who is legally qualified shall be
11assigned to any comparable position in a member district
12currently held by a teacher who has not entered upon
13contractual continued service or held by a teacher who has
14entered upon contractual continued service with a shorter
15length of contractual continued service. Any teacher employed
16after July 1, 1987 as a full-time teacher in a program of a
17special education joint agreement, whether the program is
18operated by the joint agreement or a member district on behalf
19of the joint agreement, in the event of the dissolution of a
20joint agreement in which the notice to teachers of the
21dissolution is provided during the 2011-2012 school term or a
22subsequent school term, the teacher who is qualified shall be
23included on the order of honorable dismissal lists of each
24member district and shall be assigned to any comparable
25position in any such district in accordance with subsections
26(b) and (c) of Section 24-12 of this Code and the applicable

 

 

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1honorable dismissal policies of each member district.
2    (l) The governing board of the joint agreement, or the
3administrative district, if so authorized by the articles of
4agreement of the joint agreement, rather than the board of
5education of a school district, may carry out employment and
6termination actions including dismissals under this Section
7and Section 24-12.
8    (m) The employment of any teacher in a special education
9program authorized by Section 14-1.01 through 14-14.01, or a
10joint educational program established under Section 10-22.31a,
11shall be under this and the succeeding Sections of this
12Article, and such employment shall be deemed a continuation of
13the previous employment of such teacher in any of the
14participating districts, regardless of the participation of
15other districts in the program.
16    (n) Any teacher employed as a full-time teacher in a
17special education program prior to September 23, 1987 in which
182 or more school districts participate for a probationary
19period of 2 consecutive years shall enter upon contractual
20continued service in each of the participating districts,
21subject to this and the succeeding Sections of this Article,
22and, notwithstanding Section 24-1.5 of this Code, in the event
23of the termination of the program shall be eligible for any
24vacant position in any of such districts for which such teacher
25is qualified.
26(Source: P.A. 97-8, eff. 6-13-11.)